Clothesline holder



May 15, 1923.

J. C. M CONNAL CLOTHESLINE HOLDER Filed July 11. 1921 Patented May 15, 1923.

hearse earner. clerics.

JAMES c. McCONNAL, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CLOTHESLINE :ronnna.

Application filed July 11, 1921. Serial No. 483,663.

To aZZ whom it may concern CoNNAL.

a citizen of the United States 0 America,

residing at Detroit. in the county of lTV ayne and State of illichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Clothesline Holder, of which the following is a specification. reference being had there'- in to the accompanying drawings.

T his invention relates to a line holder and has special reference to a holding device which may be advantageously employed for detachably holding one or more clothes lines, or, as a clcat or other device on a boat or deck by which a boat or deck line may be held.

The primary object of my invention is to pr vide a simple durable and inexpensive clothes line holder that may be easily and quickly attached to any wooden support, as a pole or post, or it may be attached to a wall or to a metallic post or pole. In either instance the holder is provided with means for preventing accidental displacement, particularly by rotatioin of the holder and consequently the holder will serve as a permanent fixture to which a clothes line may be readily attached.

Another object'of this invention is to provide a clothes line holder having a configuration which will afford. practically three binding places or points for a clothes line when connected to the holder in a simple manner, but the same configuration con tributes to .a better holding of the line should it be necessary.

A further object of this invention is to provide a clothes line holder which in its simple form is a die casting or unitarystruo ture and the shape or design of t-hz holder is such that a line may be quickly placed in engagement therewith without any danger of the line being injured ad without the necessity of special instruction .as to just how a line must be held.

The above and other objects are attained by constructions that will be hereinafter described and then claimed, and reference will now be had to the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a plan of the clothes line holding device;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a view of the outer end of the device;

Fig. d is a cross sectional view taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 1;

- prevented from turning sidewise due to Fig. is a plan of the clothes line holding device showing a single line attached thereto by being looped over one of the holding arms of the device; i

Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the line having a double loop over a single arm of the device:-

F T is a similar view showing a single line looped over both arms of the device;

Fig. 8 is similar View showing a line looped over each arm of the device;

Fig. 9 is a plan of the clothes line holding device as designed for attachment to a me tallic pole or post; and

Fig. 10-shows an elevation of a boat or dock cleat embodying the principle of the line holder in accordance with my invention.

As pointed out in the beginning the line holding device maybe a unitary structure and as such it comprises a back plate 1 which is oval in front elevation and centrally of the rear face of said back plate is a rearwardly projecting wood screw 2, but in lieu of this wood screw I may use a bolt 3 and a nut 4. In either instance the screw or bolt constitutes means for fastening the back plate 1 to a wall, post or pole, or other support. 7

'Vhen the bolt 3 and the nut 4 are used for attaching the back plate 1 to a post, pole, or supporto having a convex face, the rear face of the back plate 1 is made concave as at 6 in Fig. 9, so that the back plate will sni ely lit against the pole or post and be its contact with the pole or post. I,

In case the back plate 1 is attached to a wall or flatsupport it is preferable to provide the upper and lower ends of the back plate 1 with screw openings 7 to receive ordn screwswhich willprevent turning of the-back plate 1 with the screw 2 as an axis. Should a nail or pin be substituted for the screw 2 the rear face of the back plate 1 may be provided with integral prongs or the like which will project into a wall when the device is driven into engagement with such wall and thus prevent turning of the device.

Projecting outwardly from the front face of the back plate 1 is a body 8 which tapers inwardly from the back plate 1 to the outer end of the body and this body has its outer end provided with inwardly projecting arms 9 which are disposed on opposite sides of an angle to the inner walls of the arms 9 or the body and at acute angles to the axis of said body. The arms, per se, may be straight or slightly curvedand said arms are of less .length than the body. The inner walls of the arms 9 are beveled to provide faces 10 andthese faces confront grooves or recesses 1 11 in opposite sides of the body 8, as best shown in Fig. 4'. Inproviding the grooves or recess 11 line binding edges orjpoints 12 are formed which are adapted to cooperate with-a line binding edge 13 of each of the arms 9, thus providing three binding places for a line placed in engagement with either arm. In forming the grooves or recesseslQ it is preferable to place the walls thereof at vice versa so that there will be a somewhat wedge shaped passage 14L between the body and each arm. It is in either of these passages that a line may be placed and wedged therein so as to bindagainst' the edges 12 and 13. v 1

As shown in Fig. 5, a single line 15 has.

been placed in one of the passages 1a and bound therein. In Fig. 6 a single line 16 has been wrapped or looped about a single arm so that when the-line 16 is'drawn taut or any weight placed on the line, it will have a tendency to more firmly bind the looped portion of the line betweenthe arm and body.

As shown in Fig. '7, a single line 17 has been placed in engagement with both arms of the device and may be wedged between both arms and the body. It is in. this ar-v rangement of the line that the tapered con-' figurationofthebody tends to feed or force cthe line into the passages 14 when the line vice may be'made much larger than a clothes "-of the device is in upright position and on] is drawn taut. In Fig.8 two lines 18 are attached to the device by placing a line in engagement with each arm. Figs. 6 to 8 in elusive simply illustrate various ways by which one or more lines may be conveniently connected to the holder, and it may be optional with the user as to the exact manner of attaching a l ne.

Considering'Fig. 10, the line holding deline holding 'device and in such large form usedas a boat or dock cleat 19 and may be suitably fixed by a bolt 20 or other fastening means to a boat deck or dock 21. The body account of itssize it ispreferable to make the body separate from the arms 22, which 'are integral and have the central portion ther'eoffitted in in a transverse. recess 23 in the upper end of the body. and retainedv A v thereinby the bolt 20. The lower, ends'of the arms 22 are inturned or hoolcshaped. as

1 v at 24:, and'disposed close to the walls of the 1 body so that it may be necessary to forcibly place a line under the-arms 22. If such is I the case, a line will remain wedged between the body andan armnor it will rest "on the hook-shaped end of the arm. In other words, there is little danger of a line fallmg from between the body and an-armshould it become loose relative to the body.

The line holding device, in itsentirety is preferably made of metal and it may be finished so as not to corrode and at the sametime present a neat. appearance- It is de-' 7 void of sharp edges that mayinjure ahand when the device is being attached to a support or that may injure a line placed in engagement with the device. It is obvious that receive fastening means byiwhich .the plate i may be prevented from turning with the screw as an axis, a body extending outwardly from said plate, and having walls curved inwardly from the edges of said plate to the outer end of said body, and curved arms car- I 'ried by the outerend of said bodyv and curved outwardly relative to said body to cooperate therewith in providing passages with some of the walls of sald passages affording binding edges for lines placed in said passages.

In testimony whereof I aflix mysignature 1n presence of two wltnesses.

I JAMES o. M'oCONNAL.

Witnesses I KARL H. BUTLER, ANNA M. Donn. 

